Cody's First Dance!

Cody and Allison right before going to the BIG 8th grade dance!

So CUTE together!!

We're Home!

Hola Amigos!After a very long day of traveling yesterday, we finally made it home!

Thank you so much to our friends and family who helped us take care of things here at home so we could go on this adventure AND thank you to my friends and family who left encouraging comments and e-mails.

Even though we were far away, I felt so close to you all and I appreciate your love and concern so much! Even though a part of my heart is still in the Yucatan, I am happy to be home with the people I love most on this entire planet!

Stories and photos to follow soon!

Love, Lanette

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 19th wedding anniversary - WOW! I am getting so old :0)

In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday that all the craziness of our wedding took place and in some ways it seems like it was 40 years ago! Here's what I know - I truly am one of the luckiest women in the world to be married to my husband Trent!

There's no one else I know who would be willing to follow his wife around to remote parts of the world just because she felt like God was telling her to go there! Without him I would never have the opportunity to do the things we do together and I am so grateful! He's my best friend and we have so much fun together, there is no one else I'd rather be with.

Happy Anniversary my love - here's to another 19 years together!

My New Amigos in Ykodzonot!

These little girls were adorable - they were a little shy and just giggled a lot until I brought my camera out. Then when the candy came out, they really started hamming it up! There names are Diana and Delma

Here's Alberto - he's 10 years old - isn't he sooo cute?

Here's Elvia (in the black) - she's the President of the cenote who is on the video. Don't I look like a giant next to them?!

Here's me doing a cannon ball into the cenote - see my head at the very bottom?

Trent was misbehaving so I locked him up in this 400 year old Spanish chapel - I think it's the confessional or something . . .?

Here's Trent having coffee time in the Garden of Eden - CIELO!! (heaven in Spanish)

At the bottom is the Ykodzonot Cenote

We're Here!!

We arrived yesterday (Tuesday) into Cancun airport around 12:30. We got our rental car (er make that a rental Jeep . . . of course), bought some water and headed out to Chichen Itza (pronounced Cheech-en Eetza). Side note – Chichen Itza are some famous Mayan ruins that have just been declared one of the 7 new wonders of the world. The highway to Chichen Itza was almost deserted – it’s a very nice highway. It felt so good to take the top off the Jeep and have the sun beating down on us and the wind blowing our hair – it felt like as we drove in toward the jungle that we were leaving all of our stress and worried behind. I literally screamed out the window at the top of my lungs “WE’RE IN MEXICO!!!” about 10 times. Trent looked at me like I was a freak – but I just laugh because I know he loves me for being goofy like that. It’s the strangest feeling – when I’m in Mexico, I feel like I am home, but I can’t speak a lick of Spanish (or Mayan).

About 2 hours later we arrived at Hacienda Chichen, the hotel we are staying at. It is seriously like staying in the Garden of Eden. The Hacienda is 400 years old and is AMAZING. The grounds are filled with Bird of Paradise plants taller than me, huge jungle type plans, fruit trees, many types of palm trees and lots of plants and flowers I’ve never seen before. Outside our bungalow is surrounded by Bird of Paradise and there’s a lime tree right outside our door (which we’ve sampled already and they’re delicious!). The Hacienda employs all local Mayan people, grow all of their own organic food and 10% of their profits go back into the Mayan community – I LOVE that! We had dinner by candlelight outside on the terrace – The food is fabulous – it’s so fresh and tasty! There’s no TV or radio in the room, so we were in bed by 9:00 and got a great nights rest.

This morning we woke up to coffee, fresh orange juice and a fruit plate brought to our room – how wonderful is that?! If you’ve never had Mexican coffee, you’ve got to come to Mexico just to try it! Then it was up to the office to see if I could find Mr. Jose Tamay who would be taking us to the Cenote Ykodzonot. Funny – when we got there, we had already met him – he runs the office and checked us in, we just didn’t know who he was! We talked for about an hour about all of the things that the Maya Foundation is doing in the area (I’ll fill you in on those later). It was a GREAT conversation and we learned so much – it was very fascinating. Mr. Jose couldn’t get away to take us, so he arranged for an employee at the hotel – Lorenzo – to take us. He was a delight to be around and he spoke very good English.

So after a swim in the gorgeous pool and a nice lunch out on the terrace again, we met up with Lorenzo, loaded up the jeep and headed out to the pueblo of Ykodzonot - It was about half an hour away. I was so glad that we had someone to guide us because it’s different here than in other parts of Mexico. It’s very safe, but there is definitely a language barrier. Even if you know Spanish it isn’t always helpful because here they speak Yucatec (or Mayan). Very few Mayan’s know Spanish – so communication is difficult. When we arrived in the pueblo, we took some small roads back through the jungle and there it was – the Cenote! OH MY WORD, it was gorgeous! I really have never seen anything like it – it was truly magical and unless you go there yourself I’ll never be able to explain it to you and pictures will never do it justice.

The walking paths, ladders and steps were all hand made by some of the local Mayan women and it was very rustic, but beautiful. Not many tourists come here, it’s mostly a place that locals use, so we stuck out like sore thumbs! When we got down to the Cenote (it’s kind of like an open well, you have to walk down into it) I couldn’t wait to jump in. The water is fresh water and there is something MAGICAL about. I am not kidding, when you get out your skin and hair feels so silky smooth you can’t believe it. Legend has it that the fountain of youth was a cenote’. There must be minerals or something special in it!

So, I was trying to figure out how to gracefully jump in the water because it’s just a little tiny deck where you get in, and finally I said “what the heck” and just ran and did a canon ball into the water. The few Mayans’ that were there thought that was pretty funny! I swam all the way to the other side where the sunlight was cascading down into the cenote’ from above and I just floated on my back, gazing up at the white limestone walls with swallows flying all around me and little black fish swimming all around me. The reflection from the water was throwing sparkles all over the tall walls and the vines cascading down into the water were beautiful – the combination of the sounds, sights and feeling of the water on my skin was mesmerizing. While floating on my back and enjoying every single sensation of this moment, I felt so overwhelmed with gratefulness and also disbelief. I could not believe that I was finally here! God is so incredible and I am so thankful. Now, when I go to my “happy place” – this is where I will go.

When I got out of the Cenote, there were some kids standing around watching us. I took pictures of them and showed them, talked with them a little bit and made fast friends (of course, it could have something to do with the candy we were passing out!). They were adorable girls and I was so happy to meet them – they had the most beautiful smiles!

It was getting time to leave and I still hadn’t met the women who run the Cenote, so I asked Lorenzo if we could meet them on the way out. As we were leaving, he walked right by them and I wasn’t sure what to do. Could I just walk by them after coming all this way to meet them? What in the world was I going to say to them? “Hello – I came all the way from America to meet you and I have no idea why” – can you say STALKER!? I tried to explain to Lorenzo that I saw them on the internet and came all this way to meet them and it seemed like he didn’t understand (in fact, he kind of looked at me weird). So we just stood there in front of them in this awkward weird silence and I remember thinking “Oh no, this isn’t what was supposed to happen”. We asked for a couple of soft drinks and they gave them to us. Then I took my camera and asked if I could get a picture of them – THAT broke the ice!! Then I asked if I could get a picture WITH them and the seemed to love that idea and then we had a connection. I showed them the pictures, laughed with them and then got their names. We said “adios” and then took off. Now, I have no idea what is going to come of this or why I felt like I had to meet them and see the Cenote and their pueblo, but I followed my heart and now one more of my dreams have come true! I know there will be more to this story . . . and I can’t wait to see it unfold!

We came back to the Hacienda (I had questions all the way there and all the way back for Lorenzo) and we are relaxing with the magical Cenote yokdzonot water soaking into our skin and hair. In a little bit we will go the Yaxkin (pronounced Yash-keen) where 2 women will be giving us a Mayan hot rock massage. The rocks are purified and blessed and have special significance – I can’t wait!!

Our Yucatan Adventure Starts Tonight!

Tonight we leave for a 10 day trip to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It truly is one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world. We're going to celebrate our anniversary, to explore some missions opportunities and to scope out future retreat sites for a Women's Empowerment Trip that I'd like to host in 2009.

Tuesday thru Thursday we'll be visiting a Mayan village in the jungle, 3 hours from Cancun, located close to Chichen Itza. There is a village of incredible women who have built an eco park around a cenote and I feel compelled to go there to meet them. I have no idea why, but that's the exciting part! Here's an ariticle that might help explain:

A fifteen minute drive from Chichen Itza you'll find the town of Yokdzonot. Follow the wooden signs that clearly direct traffic to the ecological park, a place which eighteen local Mayan females proudly created with more faith and hard work than money.

The project was born from these females desire to give their families a better future. Tired of waiting for the men of the town to organize themselves and plan a community tourist endeavor, these Maya woman took upon themselves the incredible task of building, planning, and designing and managing the community property that is now a truly lovely eco-park.

The Yucatan Peninsula is a flat, thick shelf of limestone with thousands of miles of underground, water-filled caves interconnected by rivers. When the roof of one of these caves collapses, it produces a sinkhole or natural well, filled with fresh water.

“It was very hard,” Marisela recalls, “no-one believed we could do it, the place was filled with garbage and waste, we took over a year to clean the land. Then we brought each stone by hand to create the walking paths, we cut the wood to built the walking fence. We did these things with almost no money, no pay and with a lot of criticism from the other village people.”

Yokdzonot Ecological Cenote Park is a true jewel of community effort, a success story and the pride of all the family members of these females that stone by stone carry and built this ecological wonder.

So far, these Mayan females are a proud example of what good will and hard work can bring to a village.

I can't wait to see what God is up to and I can't wait to meet my new friends!

Check back - I'll be posting updates and hopefully pictures all along our journey.

There's a GREAT video of the women and the cenote HERE!

Pangea Day - Connecting the World!

What is Pangea Day? Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future.

In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that — to help people see themselves in others — through the power of film.

Pangea Day's programming includes choirs in one country singing the national anthem of the country of another. Watch what happened when Kenya sang for India.



On May 10, 2008 — Pangea Day — sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music.

The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones.

Of course, movies alone can't change the world. But the people who watch them can. So following May 10, 2008, Pangea Day organizers will facilitate community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with numerous organizations that are already doing groundbreaking work.

You're Invited - Girl's Night Out tonight @ the Chocolate Cafe'

If you're a girl, you're Invited to a Girl's Night Out

At The South Bend Chocolate Cafe' (downtown South Bend)

Friday May 9th @ 6:00

It's all you can eat fondue night for only $6.99 - YUM!

Come hang out with us and create your very own Heart Map to take home

You'll find out some cool stuff about yourself that you probably didn't know.

BRING FRIENDS!

Click HERE for details

RSVP by 4:00 @ 574-329-5190

Everything!

You are everything that I live for

Everything that I can’t believe is happening

You’re standing right in front of me

With arms wide open all I know is

Every day is filled with hope

You are everything that I believe for

And I can’t help but breathe you in, breathe again

Feeling all this life within

Every single beat of my heart

You’re everything good in my life

Everything honest and true

And all of those stars hanging up in the sky

Could never shine brighter than You!

"Everything" by Matthew West

Thank you Father for what you've been teaching me and for the things that you're allowing me to experience. My heart is overflowing with gratitude and words cannot express how much I love you and want to serve you - not just when things are easy, but ALL the time - every minute of the day, every beat of my heart. You are . . . . . EVERYTHING!

Be The Change That You Want To See

At first I couldn't figure out what my sign would say and then, about 3 minutes into the video, I saw them:

- Cute little boy holding a sign that says "Make Friends with The World"
- A woman's sign that says "Empower people to do extraordinary things"

Those are DEFINITELY my signs -I guess I'd have to carry around 2 of them!

What would your cardboard sign say?

Come on people - talk to me - let me know - put it out there on the world wide web and make a stand!!

What sign would you write for me - What do you think I stand for?
(please answer - I'd LOVE to hear the answer to this question!)

We have a choice

Once what is wrong becomes clear,

then we have to choose:

we can go on as before,

recognizing our dishonesty and

living with it the best we can, OR

we can begin the effort to change

the way we think and live.

-- Wendell Berry

• What have you been just living with and tolerating?
• You don't have to tolerate it - you have the power to change it!!
• What will you choose today?